I had previously (and still am, to some extent) fairly sheltered when it came to playing board or card games, but some friends that I visited and stayed with last week (in Washington) had a huge bunch of them. They’re sort of a board game family and even have a game night once every week, so we played a lot of them, suffice to speak. They taught me many…in fact, of the ten or so that we played, I had only played one before (Cards Against Humanity).
So I’m curious…of these games, if you have also played them, what are your thoughts of them? How often do you play these specific ones? What one have you played the most and what one have you played the least? Any of these that you have played that you don’t like? Tell me anything you can think of regarding your feelings of these games (if you have played them) and/or tips and then, if you would do me a huge favor, let me know what other games you think I may like based on them being similar to that specific game (like “since you liked Coup, you may want to try xxx or xxx, they’re both a lot like Coup is”. Up to you, though… I’m just trying to expand my board game experience and knowledge.
So anyway…among the games we played (and that I played for the first time) were.: Mysterium (it was okay, but I found the way to play a bit too vague), Coup (very enjoyable), Resistance (extremely enjoyable), Pandemic (fun, but seemingly very difficult to beat), Dominion (a very great amount of fun), Splendor (this one I’d have to say I loved the most), Settlers of Catan (a bit enjoyable, but mostly boring and I didn’t like it as much as others), Chao (very fun), Code Names (probably my second favorite one we played behind Splendor), and a little of the Pathfinder roleplaying game (which I found interesting to follow, but couldn’t get fully into it since I’m not really into RPGs).
I’ve played Catan, Dominion and Pandemic, and frequently play Cards Against Humanity and Pathfinder. Pandemic and Catan are good ‘sometimes’ games for me. They’re mildly pleasant diversions. Dominion I enjoy a little more - the deck building is fun.
Ascension is a fun middle ground between Pathfinder style RPGs and deck-building games like Dominion, I find.
I’ve played probably hundreds of rounds of Dominion with my wife. It took me forever to beat her. She’s like, fucking, Charlie-level savant with Dominion. I don’t get it. We burned out on the game though. Definitely worth what we paid for it, though.
Pandemic was ok. I ended up selling it because the wife wasn’t too into it.
Code Names is really fun. I like it. It’s fun to try and think of combos and try to figure out what your partner will think.
For example: I had “Bird” and “neck” so I gave my wife the code word “crane 2.” She got them both.
We love Mysterium, but it’s more about knowing the way the ghost thinks than anything else. Really fun the first few times, but then less fun the more you play it.
I haven’t played most of the others listed, but if you’re looking for suggestions, our current favorites are Betrayal at House on the Hill (which is Scooby Doo in game form, kinda), Touch of Evil, and The Fury of Dracula. Dracula is a lot like Letters to Whitechapel, if you’ve ever played that - one person vs. everyone else, except you’re playing Dracula instead of Jack the Ripper.
If you like Mafia-type games like **Resistance **then you may also enjoy One Night Ultimate Werewolf. Excellent party game and is especially fun to spectate.
Love Letter is another fun social deduction board/card game.
It may interest you to know that there’s a free web version of Codenames. Great for long bus trips with extended family. You can even pipe it through Google Translate for bilingual fun.
Of the ones mentioned here, I’ve played Betrayal at House on the Hill, Catan, Code Names, Coup, Dominion, Fury of Dracula, Mysterium, Pandemic, Resistance, Splendor, and Touch of Evil.
I’ll admit I’m not a huge fan of the hidden role mechanic but if you like it, you should check out Shadow Hunters.
Also a big fan of Coup, which (along with Cards Against Humanity and Catan) is the only one of those you have listed I’ve played. It gets even better with the “Reformation” expansion, I highly recommend that.
If you liked Coup, you may also want to try Citadels, and Sheriff of Nottingham - both also rely somewhat on bluffing/guessing and are good fun.
From the OP’s list, I’ve played Settlers of Catan, Pandemic, Dominion, and Coup. I have Resistance, but haven’t played it yet.
Settlers of Catan: Good replay value because of the random tile layout. A bit cutthroat, as everyone usually piles on the frontrunner to prevent a victory.
Pandemic: Our group doesn’t have too much trouble beating it. A good cooperative game, but its the type of cooperative game were some players might sit back and let the others make the decisions and plan the moves.
Dominion: The granddaddy of common-pool deckbuilder games. A lot of replay value, but you need the expansions for cards that beyond the vanilla in the basic set.
Coup: Great fun.
Recommendations: Ticket to Ride, Machi Koro, Love Letter, Kodama.
We play Coup and Resistance and love them both – the only downside is the five player minimum for Resistance. I introduced Bricker Jr’s friends to Resistance when they were all in sixth grade and having a sleepover; they took to it like ducks to water, discussing at great length and volume the gameplay. (“Oh course you’d say that! That’s just what a spy would say!”)
And I had the interesting experience of dropping them back at their homes the next morning and being told by one, in front of his parents, “Thanks, Mr. Bricker. I had a great time. You’re a really convincing liar!”
We play Pandemic and like it so much we keep our disease markers in real petri dishes.
We play Settlers of Catan and like it, but frankly the physical setup is time consuming enough that we don’t choose it as often as we might, and the cardboard hex borders with the sea expansion don’t fit well.
If you like the bluffing aspect of Resistance and Coup I will add another vote for Sheriff of Nottingham. We have replaced the cardboard coins with metal coins and it adds a convincing and irresistible aspect to the offered bribes.
Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert are a couple more great cooperative games in the spirit of Pandemic.
We like the set collection aspect of Takenoko, and it’s a beautiful gameboard.
Zombie Dice is a quick and easy press your luck game mechanic; and in the quick and easy department set collection game Sushi Go is great fun. Another vote for Love Letter, which has only sixteen cards and manages to be complex and replayable.
Ticket to Ride is loads of fun. So is Fief, with its marriage-based alliances and the fact that an alliance can’t easily be discarded.
I have Coup, Pandemic, Dominion, Catan, The Resistance: Avalon (same basic idea, but in an Arthurian setting), and Splendor (on my phone, not a physical copy yet).
Pandemic is fun, but I also find the dice version (Pandemic: The Cure) to be a good play, and it goes a bit quicker than the base version.
I enjoy Dominion- I first played it with my daughter, and it began to drag, but I do find that it is more entertaining with a third player.
My kids and I love Catan, but it gets a bit tedious at times.
Whenever we are at an event where we are sitting around waiting for something to start, I pull out my phone and we pass it around playing Splendor. I need to pick up a physical copy, as we all enjoy it immensely.
I will second the nomination of Betrayal at House on the Hill, great fun. My wife even enjoys it, and she isn’t usually the board-gaming type.
I will also second the nomination of One Night Ultimate Werewolf, it is a great game, playable with fewer people than Resistance, and of course is more fun the more players you can involve. If you like those kinds of games, and have a good-sized playgroup, I would also like to recommend Mafia de Cuba, it can be a really fun party game.
From the OP’s list, the only one I haven’t played is Chao.
They’re all solid games, in my opinion. Well, except Cards Against Humanity. Not a fan of spoon fed profanity as “humor”. I actually prefer Apples to Apples, as offensiveness is more entertaining if you have to work for it.
**Codenames **is probably my favorite of the list. It’s simply reliable fun in almost any group.
In that vein I’d suggest Spyfall. The basic premise is the group is at a randomly selected location. Everyone knows where they are, except the spy who is trying to figure out where they are. You take turns asking each other questions. The spy wins by correctly identifying the location, the other players win by correctly identifying the spy. Rounds are quick and you can basically play until you’re bored. I think it’s great.
I just played Codenames for the first time recently and loved it. If I was back in college and had my game-night friends around I think this would easily be a favorite of ours.
My problem with most of the games that I play with people now is that they LOVE the Resistance/Warewolves type of game, and I HATE those. I know I’m in the vast minority with my opinion, they regularly tell me I’m wrong and I’m sure you all will too, but these games are pure and random luck. You can say whatever you want to to whomever you want to, and when you do that enough it’s literally just luck-of-the-draw.
I will join the chorus recommending Betrayal at House on the Hill. It’s one of my favorite board games of all time, and supposedly getting an expansion this year.
Have you tried any of the fan-written expansions? I keep meaning to, but then I forget to print them out at work where I’m not the one paying for toner.
If you’re interested in games but don’t know where to start, you might want to check out Wil Wheaton’s “Tabletop” show. All episodes are viewable in full on YouTube. It’s a great show to learn what certain games are about, how to play, and occasionally some valuable strategic insights (I say “occasionally” because the show is mostly about entertainment and not so much about tactics and strategy).
Episodes are typically 25-40 minutes long, but if you just want to learn about a game, you can just watch the first few minutes. After a brief introduction and the show’s title sequence, Wil gives a short overview of that episode’s game followed by a concise explanation of the rules and the logistics of play. Then Wil and his “celebrity” guests (who are sometimes people you’ll recognize, other times not) proceed to play the game which comprises the meat of the show.
I’ve used this show to discover a lot of games I think my friends and I would like. Watching people actually play a game is a much easier way to learn about a game than reading the back of the box or trying to decipher the often byzantine game manuals.
I’ve played Code Words twice and I’m not particularly a fan. If you’re not on the same wavelength as your compatriots it can be difficult, plus it seems like it’s an exercise in getting as close to the edge of telegraphing it as possible.
My favorite games on the list are Dominion and Splendor. If I don’t win outright, I’m rarely more than one turn away from winning both of them. My only complaint about Dominion is that probably more than half the time the simple strategy of building up as much gold as possible rather than focusing on special card combos is the dominant one. Thankfully most people I’ve played with haven’t figured this out though
You should also check out Rahdo Runs Through. Richard Ham (rahdo) sets up a game for two players and then plays it through by himself playing both sides. As he plays, he does a running commentary on what he’s doing and why he’s making the decisions he is. While it’s a lot less polished than Tabletop, I find it gives me a much better sense of what a game is like.
